Want to feel good about what you do? If you ever get to Washington D.C., make sure you take time to see the Newseum.
You probably know what it is. As the name implies, it’s a news museum. It was founded by the Freedom Forum and is run with donations from some of the country’s biggest media chains, including News Corp., Gannett and Cox. It’s six floors, 250,000 square feet and holds 35,000 historic newspapers, gobs of odds and ends – including the antenna from one of the World Trade Center Towers – and plenty of reasons why we are part of a proud professional lineage.
I was in the nation’s capital on vacation last week and truly enjoyed spending a few hours in the Newseum … though it’s a little odd to see your own life reflected in museum pieces. For instance, anyone remember the “Trash 80?” These Tandy computers were the state of the art for sportswriters and anyone else covering stories on the road in the early 1990s. I carried one everywhere I went for a few years (that is it you see in the picture here) and it was therefore a bit disconcerting to see it behind glass in a museum. I also saw a couple press passes that I have lying around…
One of the things I noticed was that my fellow museum-goers seemed to hold the news industry in pretty
high regard. Folks were downright respectful while gazing at the front pages from 9/11 or watching a video about the man who brought back news of the partitioning of Germany. It was refreshing.
Take a look at the other photo here. Those at the museum were asked whether they trusted blogs as much as the mainstream press and the answers were overwhelming: folks obviously continue to think there is a qualitative difference between what we do and what the majority of the blogosphere puts out.
I did have a nit to pick. In the hours I spent there, I didn’t see much to represent community journalism. The big events were all covered – from those who died covering foreign wars to Watergate to the trial of John Peter Zenger. But there was barely a mention of the connection people feel to their smaller hometown papers. Perhaps next time.
– Clay
Clay, I’ve been to the Newseum and echo your thoughts. At least four hours of enjoyment for those of us in the business, if not more. Yes, info on community journalism would be nice. I hope someone doesn’t get the lousy idea to set up a “morgue” for the recently departed papers in Seattle, Denver, Ann Arbor and maybe others.
I’ve never been to the Newseum, but have always wanted to visit. Thanks for sharing some thoughts and photos. Like David, I am also saddened by the demise of newspapers, especially the Rocky Mountain News. My first job as a kid was when I was 10. I delivered the Rocky. After a year of that, I expanded my “empire” and picked up a Denver Post route as well (the Post was an afternoon then). Being a Denver-area native, I had many friends at the Rocky and always remember that as the start of my journalism career. … And on another note, Clay, you make me feel very old. That Radio Shack word processor you display at the top is just like the one I used when I first started my career going on 20 years ago. Then, it was the latest and I loved it.